Homer (Summer)

One of Alaska's most unique towns, Homer is a popular Kenai Peninsula destination for those who love the outdoors. The town of 4,000 is best known for a four-mile-long sandy peninsula — the Homer Spit — that juts into picturesque Kachemak Bay. Near the end of the spit are clusters of gift shops, galleries, charter fishing operations, sea kayak adventure tours, restaurants, lodging places, and a popular fishing hole. Campers pitch tents or park RVs along the beach and head out to fish for halibut and salmon or turn back to town to visit art galleries (most notably Bunnell Street Gallery), or to explore the Islands and Oceans Center and the ...

One of Alaska's most unique towns, Homer is a popular Kenai Peninsula destination for those who love the outdoors. The town of 4,000 is best known for a four-mile-long sandy peninsula — the Homer Spit — that juts into picturesque Kachemak Bay. Near the end of the spit are clusters of gift shops, galleries, charter fishing operations, sea kayak adventure tours, restaurants, lodging places, and a popular fishing hole. Campers pitch tents or park RVs along the beach and head out to fish for halibut and salmon or turn back to town to visit art galleries (most notably Bunnell Street Gallery), or to explore the Islands and Oceans Center and the Pratt Museum. Take a water taxi to Kachemak Bay State Park for a hike to Grewingk Glacier, or kayak past colonies of nesting seabirds at Gull Island. Daily boat tours to bucolic Halibut Cove are popular dinner destinations in the summer. Back in Homer, saunter along Bishops Beach at low tide, or cruise up Skyline Drive for an all-encompassing vista across Kachemak Bay to the snow-capped, glacier-edged Kenai Mountains.

About the Expert

Don Pitcher has written or photographed 10 travel guidebooks to Alaska, Wyoming, Yellowstone-Grand Teton, and the San Juan Islands for Avalon Travel Publishing, Random House, and Sasquatch Books.